"Permit me to know my business, Tracy," said Merry shortly. "You may go now, Anson."
"What? You're not going to let him go where he likes?"
"Yes."
So Hop Anson walked out of the cabin, picked up his rifle, and disappeared.
"I don't want to criticise you, Mr. Merriwell," said the foreman. "You know I am devoted to your interests. But I feel confident that you will be very sorry you treated that man in such a decent way and then let him off. He's a snake. I still believe he crept up to the door to shoot you in the back."
"Perhaps he did," nodded Frank, cleansing his instruments with the utmost coolness. "If so, he got the worst of it."
"But would you let him off like that if you knew it was so?"
"No. He swore it was not. I had no proof, so I let him go."
"You're altogether too easy with your enemies," asserted Tracy. "Just you turn them over to me. I'll[Pg 99] take care of them, and they'll never bother you again, be right sure of that."
"I'll think about it," smiled Frank, returning the instruments to the case.